Russellville Police Chief Victor Shifflett wants to warn the public about another recent scam. Shifflett received the scam information through a police sharing site and felt it may be beneficial for citizens to know what is going on and that there are individuals out there trying to take advantage of others. The biggest defense against these scams is knowledge.

This scam has been verified by the FBI. Most of us take those summonses for jury duty seriously, but enough people skip out on their civic duty that a new and ominous kind of fraud has surfaced.

The caller claims to be a jury DUTY coordinator. If you protest that you never received a summons for jury duty, the Scammer asks you for your Social Security number and date of birth so he or she can verify the information and cancel the arrest warrant. Give out any of this information and bingo; your identity was just stolen.

The fraud has been reported so far in 11 states, including Oklahoma, Illinois, Colorado, Arizona and more. This (swindle) is particularly insidious because they use intimidation over the phone to try to bully people into giving information by pretending they are with the court system.

Be very leery of anyone wanting any personal information over the telephone, through mail or other avenues. Your personal information is just that, personal.

If someone promises you money or intimidates you into thinking you have done something wrong, do not fall for it. It is better to be safe than sorry. If it sounds to good to be true it usually is.

Scammers try to target the elderly and those who are less fortunate making promises they won’t keep. If you feel you have been a victim of a scam, please contact your local police agency.